A glimpse

In the mornings, we let the kids watch TV for about 20 minutes while they eat their breakfast, and they alternate who picks the show. "Whose turn to pick?" and "My turn to pick" are part of our family's language. We've been reconsidering this practice lately, because a certain 4-year-old girl tends to meltdown at random, and one of her witching hours is this hour, the one before all four of us must leave for work and school, 5 times a week. Le sigh. Maybe I've mentioned this before? Hahaha. Agggh. It's either the lights are too bright, or someone's touching her arm, or breathing on her wrong (@ Sissy, LOL!) or it's not her Turn.

But today I saw a little glimpse of the end of this phase, and a little confirmation that maybe some of the good we try to impart on these kids is actually getting through to her. I know it has gotten through to AJ. Today, for instance, it was his Turn, and therefore KT started to fuss. We were at the brink of a tantrum when he sighed, and reluctantly but very wisely said he would switch with her, and let her pick today. (Frequently, he'll hold onto his turn, but choose one of "her shows." That kid impresses me, I don't mind telling you.) He tossed out a comment, however, that he SURE wishes she would be as nice to him as he is to her. Heh. I agree. Normally I don't like when he tries to use "parenting talk," but I let this one slide. She considered it. Things were quiet as they worked out which buttons to push, to turn everything on (she sometimes still doesn't remember to push Auxillary - POWER, TV - POWER, and Cable box - POWER. I don't blame her, it's complicated.)... and then I heard her ask him, "Where do I find 'Adventure Time' On Demand?"

Which is one of "his shows." :)

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AJ's been sick for 5 days. It was such a weird thing - he'd be fine one day but throw up the next, and didn't eat or drink much of anything. (All my hard work! Gone with the wind.) After a trip to the doctor, he's on a 3-day diet of saltines and broth, Jello and Ginger Ale, and an anti-nausea pill and a probiotic. Poor kid. He is additionally sick of DH and me asking him every 5 minutes if he's okay. It is awful to see your kid suffering, and I know a stomach bug is extremely minor in comparison to what some parents go through. I'm so grateful today to have healthy kids.

Of course, it's been a juggle with work schedules and sick days. It's gotten easier as we've matured into the parenting gig -- DH and I usually try to split days or alternate, and neither of us worries too much about it. I'm grateful, I guess, that I have a laptop and VPN access, so I don't miss the important emails (if there is such a thing), and grateful for understanding managers.

Meanwhile, there have been third-grade projects due (another costume! Argh! What grade does THAT end?), Catholic Schools' Week volunteer "opportunities" (i.e., room mom obligations, which end up being fun but when I'm also juggling sick days, are sorta stressful), and KT's pre-K classroom is trying to start prepping us for homework next year, with some homework of its own. She's making stellar progress on her reading, and that's fun. We giggle about her "math" papers -- she writes every number backwards. I know it's very early yet and that she'll get it, and I'm trying to remember to save some of the funny ones so we can look back later.

We're wishing for some snow. If we don't get any, it'll be the second winter in a row, and that will be sad. A couple of years ago, it snowed in mid-February so I'm holding out hope.

Oh, I've also been trying really hard to catch up with Downton Abbey. I finished Season 2 last night. My mom tells me I must not miss the Christmas episode, and then I'll hit our DVR and get up to speed on Season 3 so far. I will say it feels a lot more soap-opera like in Season 2 than it did at first. I still love it, but I've noticed a shift. (I should have been born in that time period, I truly think. I wouldn't even care if I were upstairs or downstairs -- it was all still so proper. And if you were downstairs it isn't like you wished you could be upstairs, because it simply wasn't possible. Your station was your station. There seemed to be less angst over earning "enough" or "more" money, because everyone knew what he had. We're not like that in our time. I haven't taken the time to parse all these thoughts out, but it's interesting to me.)